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Tiffany Haddish recalls leaving the set of a big-budget movie in tears in search of someone who could properly do her hair. Lorraine Toussaint blithely recounts the times her tresses have been damaged by stylists inexperienced with managing black hair. And Tia Mowry-Hardrict recalls breaking down on set after seeing what was done to her locks.
"It's mind-blowing to me that we still have to — meaning black actresses — have to fight to have black hairdressers on set for us. There was one time in particular I was doing this movie and, my God, I was the lead. And after this person did my hair, I cried. I was like 'I cannot like I cannot go out there looking like this,'" said Mowry-Hardrict, star of the Netflix sitcom, "Family Reunion." I just don't understand why you have to fight to get someone to understand the importance of that."
From Oscar winners to stars on the rise, many African American actresses have similar stories about hair struggles in Hollywood. In an industry known for its glamour and beauty, some say the lack of diversity behind the scenes has led to challenging situations for women of color.
While black hair comes in different textures, it is generally defined by its curls ranging from wavy to very tight coils. For years, racism and segregation typically dictated that black people exclusively worked on black hair. Today, that tradition remains as many non-black stylists, for the most part, have not learned how to successfully work with African American hair.
Halle Berry exploded on the Hollywood scene in the early 1990s with a short, pixie hairstyle that would become her signature. Others heavily copied the style, but the Oscar-winner didn't set out to start a trend — it was a result of previous experiences with some Hollywood stylists.
"That's why I had short hair," laughed the actress. "(Maintaining) it was easy. I think as people of color, especially in the business, we haven't always had people that know how to manage our hair. Those days are different now — that's when I started."
Others say the lack of Hollywood stylists able to properly manage their hair remains a problem.
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"I can relate to that 100 percent," said Sierra Capri, the 20-year-old star of "On My Block," Netflix's most-binged original show of 2018. Capri, who says she's multi-racial but identifies as black, said it's a relief when an actress finds a stylist who understands black hair.
"We want to look and feel good and we want to feel our best," she said. "If we feel that we have someone that understands us and understands what we want and what we need, then we're gonna feel great and we can do what we came to do."
Queen Latifah said she encountered stylists who didn't know what to do with her hair, particularly early in her career.
"It's not because their heart wasn't in the right place — they just didn't have the skillset to do black hair," said Latifah, who recently worked with Proctor & Gamble to form "The Queen Collective" to promote racial and gender equality in filmmaking. "As African Americans we have all different shapes, sizes, colors, textures, and you got to be able to work with that. We are always in a position to be able to work with what white people do. That's just how it's been, but it has to be reversed. It has to be some respect over here and figuring out what to do with our hair. . So we just really need to add more people to the industry."
To work in a wide range of entertainment areas, from films to talk shows, hairstylists must be in a union. Local 706 is the union for hairstylists in Los Angeles; Local 798 is based in New York. Joining a union requires a license and experience on a production.
Local 706 doesn't keep records on the race and ethnicity of its stylists but is aware of the frustrations and is trying to find solutions. Randy Sayer, the business representative for Local 706, hopes that changes in the industry do take place. Sayer says the union has no control over which stylists are hired for a production, that decision belongs to producers, studios and other employers.
"I agree with every woman of color or every actor who says 'we need more.' I want to be the person who's helping us achieve that."
Legendary hairstylist Robert Stevenson, who was honored by 706 last year with a lifetime achievement award, says it's hard for anyone to join the union, regardless of ethnicity: "It's no joke."
The Emmy-winner began his career in the 1960s when he says the government forced Hollywood to hire people of color for all entertainment unions. He was the first black male hairstylist the union accepted.
Stevenson, who's styled stars like Angela Bassett, Viola Davis, Samuel L. Jackson and Eddie Murphy, said with more opportunities for black actors, unions are playing catch up.
"When I came in, we didn't have many black actresses . I mean, Pam Grier was like one of the biggest stars," Stevenson said. "But now it's changed so much. There's so many more black actresses. And the few black hairstylists that are in (the union) are working, so (the actresses) can't seem to get who they want. But Viola Davis can get whatever she wants."
And while it's true that the Oscar, Tony and Emmy award winner may be able to get whoever she wants, Davis has been vocal about her past hair chronicles. As recently as May, she said she would no longer work with stylists who don't respect the craft of styling black hair.
It's deeper than "just someone not being able to do your hair," said DeWanda Wise, who starred in Netflix's "She's Gotta Have It" and is currently in post-production for Sony's comedy-drama "Fatherhood," along with Kevin Hart. "It's people touching this texture with a certain level of trepidation and disgust."
Andrea Pezzillo, a celebrity stylist who has groomed a wide range of clients such as Jhene Aiko, Chanel Iman, Jeff Bridges and Omari Hardwick, understands why many black actresses are wary of white hair stylists.
"I always say this: it could take five years to grow your hair, and it could take one flat iron to break it all off," said the Los Angeles-based Pezzillo, who is white.
Pezzillo says she began styling women of color after attending beauty school and becoming close with an Eritrean classmate. They'd often braid and explore each other's hair, and eventually, a black instructor took Pezzillo under her wing.
"When I started doing African American hair, I didn't look at it different. I just looked at it like hair," she said. "I was never intimidated and I learned through my mistakes."
However, actresses say white stylists like Pezzillo who are proficient with many hair textures are far and few in between.
"I would be a lie if I said it hasn't been a problem. And it's been tough-going for many years," Toussaint said.
"Our hair is way more complicated," the veteran actress explained. "If I've been told I have a not-black hair person, the first question I say is, "Can they do a 'press-and-curl?" If you can do a press-and-curl, we can work together. If you don't know what a press-and-curl is, we've got to start from scratch. But it is a challenge."
Haddish said when she shot the movie "Keanu," there was no one on set who could braid the cornrows she sported in the film.
"So then I had to go outside of the movie to find people in New Orleans to braid my hair. And I cried about it because it was a lot of extra time, and I could have been resting or learning my lines or just making sure I was on point," she said.
Sanaa Lathan says she's worn wigs to protect her tresses.
"I've worked in London, I've worked all over the world and sometimes you don't know if you're gonna have somebody who's familiar with black hair," she said.
For Mowry-Hardrict, it's about more than just making an actress feel prepared for her job. "If your hair is all over the place," it will be noticed," she said.
"When you have someone look at you on television, you want to make sure that you are represented in the correct way," the former "Sister, Sister" actress said. "Our hair is really important. So we got to represent, and we need someone who knows how to help us represent."


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Magician means "wise man." The search for knowledge by which we can control the natural realm and learn scientific mysteries has lured people over millennia. All this time, England stirs such pursuits. Philip Carr-Gomm, a leader in The Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids, joins Sir Richard Heygate, a documentarian and author who studies "alternative worlds," to offer this accessible history, guidebook, and how-to compendium. In a friendly, yet cautious, manner, the writers encourage readers to learn more about the traditions of England, as well as forms invented and revamped by hundreds of thousands of pagans, believers, and "Armchair Magicians" today.
(N.B. I am not a magician, but a medievalist, so my interest in this was more scholarly than as a grimoire. I am aware of the infighting that may rage here as among pagans about nomenclature, inclusion, and exclusion. But my review is for a general reader looking inside a realm that most of us on the outside know little about...)
(N.B. I am not a magician, but a medievalist, so my interest in this was more scholarly than as a grimoire. I am aware of the infighting that may rage here as among pagans about nomenclature, inclusion, and exclusion. But my review is for a general reader looking inside a realm that most of us on the outside know little about...)
Twelve fast-paced, illustrated and annotated chapters reveal this vast, handsomely produced, storehouse of lore. Ancient roots, starting with prehistoric cave-dwellers, dig down into pre-Celtic and Celtic foundations. Saxon sorcerers displace and follow Druids. Their descendants become medieval Catholics with their own complicated relationship to their magical peers. The search for the Grail which they inspired may remind audiences of Indiana Jones, but John Matthews' enthusiasm for what the Nazis might have handed over to their American interrogators does remind us of how much remains unknown to the average citizen about what a few adventurers report back from the borders.
Banished to the fringes as Protestants extirpated any trace of superstition, witches were persecuted, but far fewer were condemned than some contemporary feminists have claimed. Between 800-2,500 in Scotland were burnt at the stake; 400-500 in England were hanged. Half of the latter death toll can be blamed on Matthew Hopkins, the Witchfinder General, a "Puritan fanatic" who held trials in Essex.
Two generations earlier, alchemy intrigued John Dee, Mary Sidney, Robert Fludd and "puffers" close to Elizabethan courtiers. Astrologers, cunning-men (akin to fortune-tellers or psychics today), wizards, Rosicrucians, scryers, Freemasons, Theosophists, Spiritualists, and mediums populate the chronicles of the past five hundred years. Emma Wilby elucidates why our ancestors might have been far more susceptible to charms, spells, potions, and rituals. Undernourishment due to famine, overwork, and fasting weakened the will. Suffering proved the norm when half of children died in infancy. Grief and bereavement altered the consciousness by their intensity. Darkness ruled outdoors and inside people dwelled within timid imaginations. Strong beer instead of tainted water shifted the body into a state where visions, trances, and stupors might haunt the desperate patient or maddened petitioner.
Even if most who feared or welcomed magic lived in isolation, one city grew in its allure. Enduring in its attraction for England's spiritual and scientific explorers, London, the authors remind us, is better than Cairo or Calcutta, Paris or Prague, for anybody curious about the Craft. Treadwell's, Atlantis, and Watkins booksellers have long enticed students and practitioners. Occult sites, mapped here in the City and throughout the kingdom, demonstrate how compelling the evidence can be for those who possess the skills and secrets that alert what historian Ronald Hutton estimates may be the one out of every four or five of us who may possess a readiness for magical powers.
Essays by adepts enrich this volume. Adrian, a modern Druid in the Order Carr-Gomm helps to lead, admits how he sometimes asks himself "why I am standing in a field in the middle of the night, covered in sheep shit, but, for me, the spiritual experience of connecting to a sacred place is truly extraordinary." Contributors often confess their early yearning for more meaning than organized religion or psychotherapies could provide; throughout this book, a calm sense of being at home within this realm pervades their testimonies. Far from the sensationalism of such as Aleister Crowley (who garners half of a chapter), those sharing their motives in these chapters profess an ethical rather than exploitative motive for their alliances with occult, hidden energies.
Brian Bates, a psychologist and shamanistic researcher, laments the superficiality of how magic is treated. "People nowadays will happily read Harry Potter, but are wary of the real stuff." Vivianne Crowley ("no relation to the infamous Aleister") tells how the modern pagan religion was invented by Gerald Gardner in the middle of the last century as Wicca. As with Professor Bates, she has a doctorate in psychology. A priestess, she reminds readers how as children, an openness to magic is often shut off when they enter school. Wiccans try to retrieve an innate connection with the spiritual plane where change can be enacted. She conveys the pleasures of Wicca, but not those that media misunderstand. "Nakedness, which is often dismissed as a license for sexual abandon, is in fact nothing of the kind. Instead it is a symbolic removal of barriers to friendship and intimacy." The reclamation of what popular culture distorts, while protecting the secrecy of lore and rituals entrusted to true initiates, characterizes many who guard their mystery traditions.
Some still remain anonymous here. One, a member of the Order of the Golden Dawn that once attracted W.B. Yeats as well as a man whom he detested, Aleister Crowley, explains his search "for the mystery of being." He reasons that magic is both objective and subjective. It is created by the imagination and then takes on its own life; it is real and separate from human beings at the same time.
Few contributors claim, as earlier witches did a few decades ago, to inherit magical skills. Instead, they seek out the few who control them, who create them, and who teach them. One alchemist in Wales tells what he knows, but he remains nameless. Most identify themselves, but caution remains. Carr-Gomm and Heygate warn of the easy lure of spell-casting; the love charm they include should be used to bring love into one's life, but not a particular lover. For, he or she once enticed may turn out to be the bane of one's existence. Charlatans from Chaucer to now delude unwary newcomers. Plenty of others delude themselves, and certain practices, as the authors explain, are not to be taken up by the perfectionist, the obsessive, or those unable to take on the responsibilities that accompany entry into the other side.
Websites, reading lists of novels and manuals, experts, locations, and schools append each chapter. While some oversight may be inevitable (I missed James Blish's erudite novel on medieval alchemist Roger Bacon, Doctor Mirabilis, and the fiction of J.C. Powys and Iain Sinclair), the authors succeed in navigating between the skeptical and the credulous among those whom they address and whom they include. For those wishing to find out about such lore, such guidance remains necessary. Nigel Pennick, a prolific scholar-practitioner, laments how people "no longer do things because their ancestors did them; it is no longer part of our culture to pass things on to the next generation."
New generations concoct new practices. Gerald Gardner's Wicca, Crowley's "left-handed" manipulations of black magical powers and Dion Fortune's "right-handed" control of white magic mingle in Tantric traditions. These twentieth-century characters, even if what some of what they claimed to know may have been invented rather than discovered, helped quicken the contemporary revival of paganism. The repeal of the Witchcraft Act in 1951, Swinging Sixties appeal, and the ecological threats that increased awareness of earth-based religious practices in the 1980s contribute to the shift in perception among many English people that welcomed pagan or alternative forms of ritual and belief.
Music, touched briefly upon by Carr-Gomm and Heygate, plays a role. "Freemasons prefer classical music and opera, pagans folk rock, Wiccans Gothic music, with Chaos magicians and Thelemites preferring heavy metal and Punk." Genesis P. Orridge (Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV) with his own movement The Temple ov Psychic Youth and his involvement in Chaos Magic, epitomizes the gender-bending, utterly non-conformist models that confound even fellow magicians. Chaos combines Sufi, Buddhist, medieval, or scientific influences and then discards them, transcending any one belief system's limits. It regards demons as mental projections, even as it may spark a raw force that may zap those not able to resist such a current. As with other challenging styles addressed in this book, all the same, Carr-Gomm and Heygate offer the neophyte gently phrased words to progress with care, patience, and commonsense into realms where the unwary may be at deep risk.
This sense of adventure, for perhaps more wary seekers, accounts for the rise in public perceptions of esoteric, and formerly shunned or banned, practices. The impact of film and television portrayals of magic, oddly, is absent from this survey. Compared to Margot Adler's magisterial account of American New Age and neo-pagan movements, Drawing Down the Moon, this English counterpart appears more grounded in the living history which connects the English varieties directly to their dolmens and fields, their hideaways and chambers. This, after all, is the strength inherent in the English magical legacy.
The festivals that fill the English calendar of the ritual year--its two equinoxes, its two solstices, and the four quarter-days adopted from the Celtic reckoning--testify to the enduring power of revived respect for chronological commemorations. While most of the Western world clutches only at Halloween in a degraded form, every six weeks or so, English inheritors of charms and covens look locally for the world that they may not, after all, have lost. If long burned up or buried, it is revived, renewed, and reborn.
This book closes movingly, acknowledging the eclectic, syncretic nature of the corpus of a resuscitated English magical tradition. Deep down, the authors advise, one knows if one or more of the paths sketched in this book may direct one to fulfillment. This magical quest draws on a depth of awareness that contemplation and study may reveal.
(P.S. Edited and reduced on Amazon US 10-30-10 & Lunch.com. Submitted at PopMatters 11-5-10 as above with the exclusion of the parenthetical second paragraph. Book website
P.P.S. Oíche shona Shamhna agaibhsa/Happy All Hallow's Eve's (eve) to you all, depending on your time zone when you read this. Cleas nó cóir/Trick or Treat.)
(P.S. Edited and reduced on Amazon US 10-30-10 & Lunch.com. Submitted at PopMatters 11-5-10 as above with the exclusion of the parenthetical second paragraph. Book website
P.P.S. Oíche shona Shamhna agaibhsa/Happy All Hallow's Eve's (eve) to you all, depending on your time zone when you read this. Cleas nó cóir/Trick or Treat.)

subset: commoncrawl


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WORLD OF SPORT: Radcliffe doping anguish, Yorkshire retain title, Livermore cocaine row
Paula Radcliffe feels like she has been 'almost abused' by calls for her to release her blood data.
The former British athlete, 41, says she has been implicated by a parliamentary hearing on blood doping, following a Sunday Times investigation. Asked if freeing data would clear her, she said: "I don't need to. I'm clean." (BBC Sport).
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdYorkshire clinched a second consecutive Championship title as a superb bowling display dismissed Middlesex for 106 on the first morning at Lord's. The home side were 0-3 at the end of Ryan Sidebottom's opening over, taking him past 700 first-class victims. Their title was confirmed when Notts were bowled out for 204 in their home game with Durham. (BBC Sport).
Brian Moore has called for Stuart Lancaster to ban his England squad from social media for the duration of the Rugby World Cup. Former head coach Sir Clive Woodward, who led England to World Cup glory in Australia in 2003, claims tools like Twitter and Instagram are 'the new enemy' and warns 'one ill-advised tweet could cost England the World Cup'. And Moore has backed that stance and echoes those words of caution. (talkSPORT).
Hull City's Jake Livermore is at the centre of a row after it emerged he will escape a ban for testing positive for cocaine. The Football Association are expected to confirm that they showed compassion at a hearing last week after being told that the 25-year-old took the drug in a state of depression after he and his partner lost their baby last year. Despite widespread sympathy for Livermore, however, the World Anti-Doping Agency and UK Anti-Doping are understood to be unhappy and considering a challenge. (Daily Mirror).
Roger Federer dominated France's Richard Gasquet in a 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 scamper into the semi-finals of the US Open on Wednesday. The second seed seemed intent on beating the rain forecast to hit Flushing Meadows and he safely stormed into the last four, where he will face fellow Swiss Stan Warwinka. The fifth-seeded Wawrinka, the reigning French Open champion, advanced with an equally unstressed 6-4, 6-4, 6-0 victory over South African Kevin Anderson. Friday's other men's semi-final will have top seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia going against ninth-seeded defending champion Marin Cilic of Croatia. (Guardian).
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdDavid Beckham's dream of fielding his own MLS side has moved a step closer after locating a site for the franchise in Miami. The former England captain's plans have been hindered by the lack of a suitable venue which is a pre-requisite for the league accepting new teams. However, the 40-year-old and his business partners are looking to build on the site of the Orange Bowl, the former home of the Miami Dolphins which was demolished in 2008 and is adjacent to the Miami Marlins' baseball stadium. (Daily Mail).


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Mrs. Willcox, whose home was damaged by the hurricane, Ledyard, Connecticut, 1940
Music for the Saturday night square dances in Clayville, Rhode Island, is provided by this school teacher from a neighboring town and her son, 1940
Nashville, Tennessee. Vultee Aircraft Company. In the engine installation section, 1942
Nashville, Tennessee. Vultee Aircraft Company. Installing electric wiring in a fuselage, 1942
Pickets outside a textile mill in Greensboro, Green County, Georgia, 1941
Relatives of the aged Harvey sisters who have come to help them move out of their home in the Camp Croft area, near Whitestone, South Carolina, 1941
Saturday afternoon in Greensboro, Georgia, 1941
Saturday afternoon in White Plains, Greene County, Georgia, 1941


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Starting with Colette Pattern's free Sorbetto top and a spare sleeve pattern, I drafted in raglan sleeves, adjusted the neck line, and changed the darts to gathers along the seam where the sleeves attached.
There was also extra fabric in the upper chest. I removed it from the sleeve piece and added the excess on the blouse front to the gathers. This worked out great since the gathers were a bit pathetic.
Muslin #2 was much better and I also added the collar. No more awkward excess fabric on the front.
The gathers worked out nicely on the back. Now it fits much better on the back of the neck.
I knot the design lines are a bit hard to see on the patterned fabric I used for my muslin but they are all there. And this is the fabric I'm making this blouse from.


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CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Conservatives who say welfare recipients should have to pass a drug test to receive government assistance have momentum on their side.
The issue has come up in the Republican presidential campaign, with front-runner Mitt Romney saying it's an "excellent idea."
Nearly two dozen states are considering plans this session that would make drug testing mandatory for welfare recipients, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. And Wyoming lawmakers advanced such a proposal this week.
Driving the measures is a perception that people on public assistance are misusing the funds and that cutting off their benefits would save money for tight state budgets -- even as statistics have largely proved both notions untrue.
"The idea, from Joe Taxpayer is, `I don't mind helping you out, but you need to show that you're looking for work, or better yet that you're employed, and that you're drug and alcohol free,"' said Wyoming Republican House Speaker Ed Buchanan on Friday.
Supporters are pushing the measures despite warnings from opponents that courts have struck down similar programs, ruling that the plans amount to an unconstitutional to search of people who have done nothing more than seek help.
"This legislation assumes suspicion on this group of people. It assumes that they're drug abusers," said Wyoming Democratic Rep. Patrick Goggles during a heated debate on the measure late Thursday.
The proposals aren't new, according to the NCSL. About three dozen states have taken up such measures over the years.
But as lawmakers seek new ways to fight off the effect of the recession on state budgets and Republican politics dominate the national discussion as the party seeks a presidential nominee, the idea has sparked political debates across the nation.
This year conservative lawmakers in 23 states from Wyoming to Mississippi -- where lawmakers want random screening to include nicotine tests -- are moving forward with proposals of their own.
Romney, in an interview this month in Georgia, supported the idea. "People who are receiving welfare benefits, government benefits, we should make sure they're not using those benefits to pay for drugs," Romney said to WXIA-TV in Atlanta.
Newt Gingrich addressed the topic with Yahoo News in November, saying he considered testing as a way to curb drug use and lower related costs to public programs.
"It could be through testing before you get any kind of federal aid -- unemployment compensation, food stamps, you name it," he said.
In Idaho, budget analysts last year concluded that such a program would cost more money than it would save, prompting lawmakers to ditch the idea.
Also, recent federal statistics indicate that welfare recipients are no more likely to abuse drugs than the general population.
Data show that about 8 percent of the population uses drugs. And before a random drug testing program in Michigan was put on hold by a court challenge, about 8 percent of its public assistance applicants tested positive.
In years past such legal challenges had a chilling effect on state legislatures, but that seems to have thawed.
Michigan's program was halted after five weeks in 1999, eventually ending with an appeals court ruling that it was unconstitutional.
For more than a decade, no other state moved to implement such a law.
"The biggest piece that has held up action now and in the past are the constitutional questions," said Rochelle Finzel, the Children and Families Program manager at the NCSL.
But Florida last year passed legislation that was eventually halted by a federal court ruling that cited constitutional concerns.
Finzel said some states are trying to avoid court challenges by requiring drug tests only in cases where there's reasonable cause to believe there's substance abuse, instead of requiring everyone to take a test.
Missouri took that approach in passing a law last year that hasn't gotten tied up in court, but which has touched off an attempt at political one-upsmanship from a statehouse Republican who introduced a bill this month that would require his colleagues at the state Capitol to take and pass the same test.
In Wyoming, the Republican-controlled state House handily approved a welfare drug-testing bill after a fiery debate Thursday. The plan sailed through a second vote Friday and needs only one more reading before heading to the solidly-conservative state Senate, where a key leader supports the concept.
In Colorado, a testing plan is expect to fail because Democrats who oppose it control the state Senate -- but Republicans have succeeded in starting a conversation on the issue.
"If you can afford to buy drugs, and use drugs, you don't need" welfare, said Republican Rep. Jerry Sonnenberg, who is sponsoring a bill this session.
Sonnenberg said his bill also seeks to help drug users get clean because applicants must complete rehab to qualify for government aid again.
Sonnenberg's critics said the idea feeds off the negative -- and unsubstantiated -- stereotype that low-income communities are more likely to use drugs. Sonnenberg said he's not picking on any group, and pointed out that the legislation would likely have a narrow effect.
"The five percent, or the four percent, or whatever that percentage is that is on drugs, will have a choice to make. They will either do what they can to get clean, or not have their (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) funds," he said.
In Wyoming, Republican Rep. Frank Peasley, a co-sponsor of the testing bill, said the measure is an effort to rein in a welfare system run amok.
"We are going broke," he said,
But Linda Burt, director of the ACLU in Wyoming, said this week it's possible her group would challenge the testing program if it's adopted in Wyoming.
"We challenged it in Michigan. We challenged it in Florida. Both of those cases found that singling out this particular group of people for drug testing was unconstitutional with absolutely no cause."


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About the Johnnie Jo Sowell Dickenson Genealogy Room
Explore your family history at the Huntsville Public Library.
Family history, sometimes known as genealogy, is said by many to be the fastest growing hobby in America. Popular television programs tickle our fancy by exploring the family history of celebrities and prominent people. Television and radio advertisements entice us to explore our family tree and learn about our heritage. The question on many people's mind is, "Where do I begin and how do I get started?"
Here's an answer. Get started on your family history at the Huntsville Public Library. Stop by 1219 13th Street. Visit with the genealogy staff and volunteers. Ask questions. Take a look at all the Huntsville Public Library has to offer. Take advantage of the library's excellent collection of print materials and array of electronic resources including Heritage Quest, American Ancestor, and the popular Ancestry.com. Search the U.S. census and military records. Find marriage and death records of long forgotten ancestors. Explore your family history.
Family history is fun and a fascinating pursuit. It's also a free service provided by your Huntsville Public Library. The Huntsville Public Library is a FamilySearch Affiliate Library.
The Johnnie Jo Sowell Dickenson Genealogy Room at the Huntsville Public Library houses more than six thousand books, newspapers, microfilm, and computer based resources for family history research. The Genealogy collection covers wide historical and geographical content. The collection has been developed to give particular attention to Walker County and Southern roots. Volunteers from the Walker County Genealogical Society regularly assist patrons with their family history questions in the Genealogy room. Seven computers are reserved for genealogy researchers. Please read the Genealogy Room Policy for proper use of and behavior in the Genealogy Room.
The Huntsville Public Library has access to HeritageQuest Online through the Texshare Databases. Heritage Quest is a premier online genealogy database that includes images and indexes of federal census records from 1790 to 1940. Heritage Quest also makes available more than 20,000 full text family history and local history books. Heritage Quest includes the Freedman's Bank Records, a primary source for African American family history research.
Access to the Texshare Databases and Heritage Quest Online is readily available at the Huntsville Public Library. Outside access requires a login and password. Please contact the Huntsville Public Library for details.
The Library subscribes to Ancestry Library Edition and American Ancestors, the website of the New England Historic Genealogical Society. The Library also subscribes to Fold3; Military History & Genealogy Archives. Fold3 offers the web's premier collection of original military records, gathering the best U.S. military records, photos and stories from the Revolutionary War to more recent conflicts.
Ancestry Library Edition is a comprehensive source for conducting local and family history research. Ancestry Library Edition includes census records, the Social Security Death Index, immigration records, photographs, maps, military records, and more.
American Ancestors is an award-winning genealogical website. It a product of the New England Historic Genealogical Society and is the online repository for more than 200 million searchable names covering New England, New York, and beyond.
These subscription-based websites can be accessed in the Library only.
How to access Heritage Quest from home
Available Staff
Toni Herrington is available from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday & Tuesday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesday.
Be sure to check out the following Genealogy resources on the web:
Stephen F. Austin Digital Archives | |
Consists of 9 collections of photographs and documents related to Walker County, Texas. | |
The website of the official genealogy society of Huntsville and Walker County. Meeting information, workshops, genealogy events, research materials available and much more! | |
History of Baylor County, Texas | From 1879 to 1930 |
Fold3 (Library) Fold3 (Home) Barcode is your library card number. | Fold3 offers the web's premier collection of original military records, gathering the best U.S. military records, photos and stories from the Revolutionary War to more recent conflicts. |
This award-winning genealogical website is part of the New England Historic Genealogical Society and is the online repository for more than 200 million searchable names covering New England, New York, and beyond. | |
Ancestry Library Edition | A comprehensive source for conducting local and family history research, Ancestry Library Edition includes census records, the Social Security Death Index, immigration records, photographs, maps, military records, and more. Due to licensing restrictions, Ancestry Library Edition can only be accessed in the Library. |
The Portal is a gateway to Texas history materials. You may discover anything from an ancestor's picture to a rare historical map. From prehistory to the present day, you can explore unique collections from Texas libraries, museums, archives, historical societies, genealogical societies, and private family collections. The Portal continues to grow as additional partners contribute digital versions of their collections. We hope you'll return often to discover our latest additions. | |
The Texas State Library offers an extensive set of free online databases for librarycardholders. Categories include academic research, books and literature, science and technology, homework help, genealogy and history, and health and medicine. |
Search by surname and individual | |
Search by surname and individual | |
General research site | |
Search by state, then by county | |
Search by surname | |
Search by surname | |
Genealogy website of the Library of Congress | |
Genealogy resources from the National Archives and Records Administration | |
Searchable registry of thousands of surnames and links | |
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CALIFORNIA – Disneyland Park has shut down two cooling towers at its park in Southern California followingan outbreak of Legionnaires' disease.
Orange County health officials said nine people who visited the Anaheim theme park in September developed the disease.
An additional three people who had been to Anaheim but not Disneyland got sick, said Jessica Good, a spokeswoman for the Orange County Health Care Agency (OCHCA). One patient, who had not visited the park and had additional health issues, died, she said.
The 12 patients are between ages 52 and 94, and 10 were hospitalized, she said.
According to Dr. Pamela Hymel, chief medical officer for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, the towers were shut down after Disney was contacted by the county health care agency on October 27 about increased Legionnaires' cases in Anaheim.
"We conducted a review and learned that two cooling towers had elevated levels of Legionella bacteria," Hymel said.
"These towers were treated with chemicals that destroy the bacteria and are currently shut down. We have proactively shared this information with OCHCA and given our actions, they have indicated there is no longer any known risk associated with our facilities."
Good also said there was "no known ongoing risk with this outbreak."
"To date, no additional Legionella cases have been identified with potential exposure in Anaheim after September," Good said.
Legionnaires disease is a severe form of pneumonia caused by Legionella bacteria, sometimes found in water systems. It is typically contracted by breathing mist from the water that contains it. The source of the mist can be air conditioning units in large facilities, showers or hot tubs. Legionnaires' disease is not contagious between humans.
County health officials identified Disneyland Park as a common location of eight of the cases last month, and have been working to identify potential sources, Good said.
Disneyland Park informed health officials this month that elevated levels of Legionella had been identified in two of its 18 towers, which were then treated and disinfected.
Disneyland took the towers out of service on November 1 and told the health agency it had performed additional disinfecting and testing. It brought the towers back into service November 5, but two days later, they were taken out of service again, she said.
Health officials subsequently issued an order that the towers remain shut down until they are verified to be free from contamination. The results of the tests will not be known for about two weeks.


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Beginners: please read this post and this post before posting to the forum.
Total Members Voted: 27
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admin, you got a directory with all your robot pics? (the blue ones one the home page)
how about "I make robots..... If you see me running, try to keep up." (got the idea from another shirt)
Heres some more"Anyone seen a robot, about yey high, oh and with a machine gun...""Thank god for kill switches""My robot can beat up your robot""High Voltage + Robot = BAD ""It wasn't me , it was by twin android"EDIT: All these quotes are 100% original
hmmmm I almost forgot about that post . . . was ages ago . . . I never got around to it, but maybe Ill make some shirts this time. I want to at least make one for myself for when I go to competitions . . .Quoteadmin, you got a directory with all your robot pics? (the blue ones one the home page)http://www.societyofrobots.com/images/(yea, that directory kinda got big after only 2.5 years)Just do a search for 'blue'


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The B.C. government is changing policy in a bid to help break the cycle of poverty and build a future for vulnerable citizens.
The changes were announced by the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction and kick in on July 1. They say clients will benefit from the changes, which are designed to further the goals of TogetherBC, the province's first poverty reduction strategy.
TogetherBC is a cross-ministry plan that outlines what government will do to help reduce the rate of poverty in B.C. by 25 per cent and how they intend to cut child poverty in half over the next half decade.
ALSO READ: Work BC Sidney helping clients bowl over competition and strike a new job
The policy changes include ending penalties for families providing room and board to a family member and decreasing the work search from five to three weeks. Access to the identification supplement will be expanded, as will access to the application process for Persons with Persistent Multiple Barriers programs. This is also due to be simplified. As part of the raft of changes the "transient" client category will be removed, as will the $10,000 asset limit on a primary vehicle. Asset limits for people on income assistance will be increased and the moving supplement for people to move anywhere in B.C. will be developed.
One of the more popular changes is likely to be ending penalties for families providing room and board to a family member. Clients who pay room and board to a parent or child while on income assistance currently do not receive the same level of benefits as those in a private room and board agreement. From July, families will be allowed to receive up to the full room and board payments when providing room and board to an adult child or parent on assistance. They won't suffer a financial penalty, similar to those living in a private room and board situation.
ALSO READ: Workers in 'precarious employment' a problem, Sidney's WorkBC Centre say they can help
The ministry says that additional changes will be made to improve services and they are focused on helping people access the support they need, when trying to overcome social and economic barriers.
Addressing poverty is a shared goal between the ministry, government and the B.C. Green Party caucus. It is part of the Confidence and Supply Agreement.
Details on the British Columbia Poverty Reduction Strategy can be found at www2.gov.bc.ca.
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"Perfect. Now the geeks are in charge!"
Thus (sarcastically) speaks Courtney (Anna Kendrick) during a sticky situation in ParaNorman, during which it appears that arcane and situationally specific knowledge is all that might save our lead characters. But as if it really needs pointing out, it's a line that sums up the entire movie: a zombie-flick (mostly) fit for brave children, one that extols the virtues of horror movies and toy collecting while smacking down intolerance as the real villain. It may also be the only kids movie to open with a parody of the Grindhouse "Our Feature Presentation" logo at the beginning (complete with fake film scratches and pops), which tells you exactly what type of person is making the movie, and which parents they're really aiming at… in order to hook their kids as well, of course; something they will likely succeed at doing. For ParaNorman, despite some uninspired trailers, is exactly what it wants to be – a family movie that doesn't pander, pushing boundaries without being inappropriate. That it's in 3-D stop-motion is just gravy.
Norman (voiced by Kodi Smit-McPhee) is a lot like (some of) you and me. He owns some monstrous-looking action figures, has the theme to Halloween as his ringtone, sticks his feet into open-mouthed zombie slippers and watches cheesy horror movies on TV with grandma. Except nobody else can see grandma – she died a while back, and her ghost still hangs out on the living-room couch. She's far from the only spirit still floating around, either – young Norman, far from being a frightened Haley Joel Osment, is pals with all of them, but mocked for it.
All of this is in the trailers, and frankly they haven't done a great jobs of selling the movie in one sense – the humor in them is obvious, utilizing wink-wink references and silly scatological humor about such things as dog butts. On the other hand, the ads have done a great job of keeping most of the second half of the story under wraps. Following a nicely efficient "ticking-clock" set-up in which Norman is warned by his creepy and estranged uncle (John Goodman) that he must read a specific incantation at the graveyard that night or all hell will break loose, things inevitably go awry, a curse is unleashed, the 3-D depth of field actually changes, and the rest of the movie incorporates some wild action sequences as well as some ingenious and even heart-wrenching reversals. Some of the stuff at the end gets so downright surreal that you may well feel your mind is being messed with – albeit in a great way. Better yet, there are moments in this cartoony stop-motion flick that are genuinely scary, and not just in a cheap-shock sense (though there's a bit of that too – the teddy bear filled with moths is a particularly nice use of 3-D).
The story's love-hate relationship with mass-commercialism nicely mirrors that which many a viewer may recognize in himself or herself. Norman is shunned or picked on for being weird, due to his ability to speak to the dead, but this ability manifests itself in a large collection of corpse-themed posters, kick-knacks and toys; a metaphor for all geeks and their obsessions. However, the town itself, nicely named "Blithe Hollow," reflects the dark side of merchandise and obsession; known for being a place where witches were executed (a billboard depicting a cartoon witch in a noose welcomes tourists to "a great place to hang"), it has taken a theme to the extreme, with every store and local business somehow riffing on cauldrons or spells or other witchy motifs, making a mockery of the actual incident that will – natch – return to haunt the townspeople in short order (subtext: do you still want your cool stuff if it has a basis in cruelty?).
The tedious chorus of cranks who go on about Harry Potter encouraging witchcraft will undoubtedly find plenty to complain about herein, while the rest of us are busy marveling at what a solid ensemble cast has been put together. In addition to those already mentioned, we get Alex Borstein as an overdramatic teacher, Leslie Mann and Jeff Garlin as Norman's parents, Christopher Mintz-Plasse as dim-bulb bully Alvin, Bernard Hill as the main zombie, Casey Affleck as an oblivious jock, Elaine Stritch as Grandma's ghost, and even Tempestt Bledsoe as a motorcycle cop. Tucker Albrizzi is a name not as known as the rest, but he's certainly a highlight as the fat kid determined to be Norman's pal no matter how much the loner insists otherwise.
In the end, however, even a good cast isn't a guarantor of greatness – just ask Brad Pitt about Sinbad some time. What puts ParaNorman over the top is that it truly has heart, and not in the standard Disney "let's pretend a character is dead so we can make you cry" way. When death enters ParaNorman's world, it's the real deal, and can hit you hard even if there is an assured afterlife. To say too much more would spoil some secret (so far) treasures. No, your kids shouldn't come out traumatized when all is said and done, but that doesn't mean there won't be touch and go moments along the way. Indeed, one can compare this movie to a ride in the best sense.
ParaNorman opens Friday, August 17th.


text: The Legend Of Spyro - The Eternal Night - Platform: Wii Dragon challenges: ------------------ Successfully complete the game to unlock five dragon challenges in the "Extras" screen. Play as Dark Spyro: ------------------- Successfully complete all five dragon challenges in the "Extras" screen to unlock Dark Spyro. Use the cleared saved game file to start a new game. Change elements repeatedly until Dark Spyro appears. Dark Spyro has the Convexity element and Convexity Fury.


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Unless you bought the phone or tablet recently, odds are high that your Android device is running an outdated version of the operating system, exposing you to serious security risks.
The latest data from Google shows that 44 percent of Android users are still on "Gingerbread," or versions 2.3.3 through 2.3.7, which was released two years ago. Gingerbread has a number of security vulnerabilities which have been fixed in later versions. The OS breakdown data is based on statistics collected from Android devices connecting to Google Play from Feb. 22 to March 4.
Just 16 percent of Android devices are running version 4.1 or 4.2 of the mobile operating system, according to Google. Also known as "Jelly Bean," the latest Android version was released six months ago, but a majority of Android users have not been able to upgrade to the new OS because the process is tightly controlled by the carriers.
"The problem with Android is that most people have old versions on their phone," Collin Mulliner, a postdoctoral researcher with the SECLAB at Northeastern University in Boston, said during a mobile security panel discussion at last month's RSA Conference.
At our SecurityWatch Summit last fall, Dan Guido, CEO and co-founder of Trail of Bits, noted that the majority of iOS devices are updated within weeks, it not days, of Apple releasing the new operating system.
Mobile Carriers Lag on Updates
"One of the most important things in software security today is the ability to remotely update," Mulliner said on the panel. While users can initiate the operating system update on their own for iPhones and iPads, Android, mobile carriers control the entire process for Android devices. At the moment, their collective record for pushing out updates for users is absolutely dismal.
The problem is that Android's open platform allows device manufacturers and carriers to tweak the operating system to bundle extra software and set certain configuration settings. Whenever Google releases an operating system update, both the vendor and carriers have to test the changes against their homebrew systems before rolling out the latest version. The carriers claim this is a slow process, but many security experts believe carriers are prioritizing profit over security.
Some phones just don't get the latest Android update because they are being phased out or are older models, Chris Soghoian, a privacy researcher and activist, said at a different event earlier this year. Manufacturers focus their efforts on devices currently for sale and coming to the market, and wireless carriers "only care about you once every two years" when the user contract is up for renewal, Soghoian said. For example, an LG Android smartphone didn't get its first OS update for 16 months, and many phones never even get that first update, let alone a second one.
Considering that Google has pushed out a new version approximately every six months, it's easy to see how quickly users can become out-of-date.
A drive-by attack, where the user is compromised just by visiting a malicious site, is not the biggest threat facing Android users, Charlie Miller, a researcher well-known for his work on iOS and Android security, said during the same panel at the RSA Conference.
"People think that drive-by is a big threat, but in real life they just don't happen," Miller said. When it comes to Android, the biggest risk facing users is the fact that their devices are running outdated and un-patched versions of the operating system, he said. The latest versions of Android have security patches and improved exploit mitigations.
Cyber-criminals know users are running vulnerable operating systems. All criminals have to do is release a malicious app exploiting a vulnerability in an old version of Android, and hit a significant chunk of the user base.
As Soghoian pointed out earlier, "You don't need a zero-day to attack most Android devices if consumers are running 13-month-old software."
Unfortunately, this situation is not likely to change unless carriers start taking security seriously, or Google wrests control of the update process away from the carriers. The most secure Android device around is the Nexus 4 smartphone from Google, as the company has full control over the updates.
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text:
Eason Jordan has resigned as CNN's chief news executive following
rumors that he said at a conference in Davos that the U.S. military
had deliberately targeted journalists for death. Jordan denied making
this allegation, but two U.S. legislators who were present agree that
he did, and the Davos organizers have denied repeated requests to
release the session video.
But I am not writing to argue about what Eason did or didn't do. I
want to address the way some people have reasoned about the worst-case
interpretation of his remarks. The blogosphere pressure for release
of the video from Davos has been described
this way: "…tire-necklaced by a bloodthirsty group of utopian,
bible-thumping knuckledraggers" to "benefit the torturing,
gulag-building blood-cult known Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld's Republican
Party." Even leaving aside the bloody-minded partisanship, this
seems, shall we say, a little over the top?
Nobody should want journalists ever to fear attacking the behavior
of the U.S. military when they have actual evidence that it is wrong.
Militaries are dangerous and terrible things, and a free press is a
vital means of keeping them in check. It is right and proper that
we make heroes of those who speak damning truths to power.
But it makes all the difference in the world when a journalist does
not have actual evidence of wrongdoing. Especially when
the journalist is a U.S. citizen and the claim gives aid and comfort
to the declared enemies of the U.S. in wartime. Under those
circumstances, such an attack is not heroic but traitorous.
I hope this is a teachable moment. Oliver Wendell Holmes observed
that shouting "fire" in a crowded theater is not protected speech; if
the speaker has no evidence of actual fire, the consequences to that
speaker should be as dire as the risk of death by trampling he created
for others. The Holmes test should be applied in politics as well.
And yes, I agree that test should be applied to the Bush
administration — but, unlike the "Bush Lied, People Died"
crowd, I haven't forgotten that the warnings about Iraqi WMD were not
only backed by British and French intelligence reports, but echoed
assessments made by the Clinton administration and endorsed to this
day by Clinton himself. Whatever errors Bush & Co. may have made
on this score, they believed they had evidence to back them.
Assuming Eason Jordan said what the witnesses say he did, his
behavior was far worse — because his own account of his remarks
makes clear that does not believe he has evidence for any claim of
deliberate targeting. It is good that he has been forced out over
this. It will be better if his disgrace frightens other journalists
into paying more attention to details like having some evidence up
front. The best outcome, though probably too much to hope for, would
be the end of reflexive oppositionalism in American media.
After Vietnam and Watergate, a lot of journalists (and other
people) lost the distinction between speaking truth to power and
simply attacking whoever is in charge (especially any Republican in
charge) on any grounds, no matter how factually baseless. Mere
oppositionalism was increasingly confused with heroism even as the
cultural climate made it ever less risky. Eventually we arrived at the
ludicrous spectacle of multimillionaire media personalities posing as
persecuted victims and wailing about the supposed crushing of dissent
on national news and talk shows.
But now, for the first time in decades, irresponsible
oppositionalism just cost a major media figure his career. Better yet,
the campaign that forced him out was a grass-roots effort by people
who take seriously their responsibility to hold the media to account
for its truthfulness. These are both grounds for celebration, and for
hope that the horribly dysfunctional culture of American newsrooms
will improve in the future.


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It's been a fast week, hasn't it?! This weekend is the Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic which always proves to be an amazing time, the hats alone make my heart stop! You can follow along with me out there on instagram and viddy!
So here's hoping you have a fun and passion fueled weekend!
Above, outtake from this week's fashion editorial: Mexicali Rose.


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Anita McBride, executive-in-residence at the School of Public Affairs, received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor from the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations on May 10.
She was honored alongside boxer Evander Holyfield, Ed Royce, Republican congressman and chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and news anchor Maria Bartiromo for distinguished contributions within their own ethnic groups during a ceremony in the Great Hall on Ellis Island.
McBride, the former chief of staff to First Lady Laura Bush, directs programming on the legacies of America's first ladies and their influence on politics, policy and diplomacy at American University. She also co-founded the RAND African First Ladies Initiative and Fellowship program, which supports Africa's first ladies and their efforts to champion health and education reform.
In addition, she is a member of several organizations, including the U.S. Afghan Women's Council, J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board and White House Historical Association. She and Bartiromo serve on the board for the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF).
"Maria and Anita are two outstanding role models for the Italian American community and our nation," said NIAF president John Viola. "Their dedication, passion and leadership have inspired our board, staff and NIAF's family."
Previous recipients of the annual award include six U.S. presidents, Nobel Prize winners and leaders of industry, the arts, sports and government. Ellis Island, in Upper New York Bay, was the gateway for millions of immigrants in the first half of the 20th century.


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Four Cornerstones
In the mid-1990s, President Richard Felix introduced the Four Cornerstones. President Jon Wallace later identified Scripture verses that aligned each cornerstone with the Lordship of Christ and the authority of Scripture, and clarified our purpose and values for our community of scholars and disciples.
Azusa Pacific University is an institution built on four cornerstones: Christ, Scholarship, Community, and Service. These four components define why APU exists.
Belief in Christ is central to all that we think and do, and who we are. It is this understanding of God's love that informs all our pursuits: academic, service, and community.
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.
We are called to scholarship permeated by our Christian faith. We are committed to teaching excellence. The liberal arts are central in the curriculum, for we are dedicated to the education of the whole person. At the same time, we value the role of professional offerings that prepare students for specific careers.
Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or swerve from them. Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you. Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding. Esteem her, and she will exalt you; embrace her, and she will honor you. She will set a garland of grace on your head and present you with a crown of splendor.
We believe in community. We are a richly diverse people who value the worth of each individual. Our mission is to encourage, equip, and enable each student to fulfill his or her great potential, and in turn, encourage, equip, and enable others.
May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.
Service is at the heart of our local and international outreach, missions, and service-learning endeavors. Our students often find these experiences to be among the greatest of their lives.
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.


text:
British Employment Law Guide
This section contains 100's of easy to find cards with detail on all aspects of employment law. Our contributors, who are from leading law firms and top ranked chambers have done the research and have distilled the information into logical online cards. The cards are cross referenced and contain up-to-date links to legislation, government sites and case reports including our own archive of 100s of case summaries.


text:
Independent personal services are personal services performed by an independent nonresident alien (NRA) contractor. This also includes honorarium paid by colleges and universities to visiting teachers, lecturers, and researchers. In general the 30% tax will be withheld from the payment, unless it is exempted by a tax treaty. Refer to Tax Treaties Table provided to view a list of countries with which the United States has a tax treaty in which NRA independent contractors may be able to exclude some or all of their income under the terms of a tax treaty entered into between the United States and their home country.
The IRS routinely applies the accountable plan rules to U.S. citizen and U.S. resident independent alien independent contractors as well as payments made to or on behalf of NRA independent contractors. Seattle University will not include all travel and living expense reimbursement amounts in the NRA's gross income. These payments are not reportable to the IRS and are not subject to NRA withholding if the payments are made under an accountable plan as described in section 1.62-2 of the regulations.
Send the following documents along with either
Honorarium, to Payroll Office, OBRN 200 (1218 East Cherry Building),
Letter of Agreement for Temporary Faculty Teaching Assignment, to Provost Office, ADM 225.
1. Copy of Passport
2. Copy of I-94 Record Card (An Arrival/Departure Record Card): Attached to the Passport. The card is issued by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) upon arrival in the United States.
3. Copy of Visa: Located inside the Passport
4. Supplementary Statements (J-1 Visa or B-1/B-2 Visas):
For those persons on J-1 visas sponsored directly by Seattle University, the International Student Center handles authorization for honoraria paid directly by other institutions.
If a visitor to Seattle University is on a J-1 visa, the visitor should attach a supplementary statement from his/her sponsoring university or institution granting authorization to accept payments from Seattle University for honoraria / independent personal services.
For non-resident aliens admitted into the U.S. on a B-1/B-2 visa (visitor for business / visitor for pleasure) or through WB / WT visa waiver program (visa waiver for business / pleasure), he/she should attach a signed, supplementary statement to indicate compliance with the 9/5/6 B honorarium rule, which specifies that he/she is receiving payment for a legitimate university purpose, that the activity engaged in is not more than 9 days, and that the non-resident alien has not received payments from more than five other such institutions in the past six months.
5. Form W-8BEN (Certificate of Foreign Status of Beneficial Owner for United States Tax Withholding): Form W-8BEN replaces Form W-8 and 1001 and can be obtained from the Internal Revenue Service.
6. Form 8233 (Exemption from Withholding on Compensation for Independent Personal Services of a Nonresident Alien): Obtain from the Internal Revenue Service.
The Payroll Office will send the completed Form 8233 to Office of the Assistant Commissioner (International), Office of the International District Operations. Attn: CP:IN:D:C:SS, 950 L'Enfant Plaza South, S.W., Washington, DC 20024.
The Payroll Office will issue Form 1042 and 1042S to report all non-employee payments made to NRAs and compensation payments made to employees which are exempt from tax withholding due to an income tax treaty.
Contact the Payroll Manager, firstname.lastname@example.com, ext 5887, 1218 East Cherry Building if you have further question or concern regarding the payment to NRA independent contractors.


text: (Lots of previous stuff snipped) Matt Wrote: >Nothing against mathematicians, but to say they are more "valuable" than >engineers is absurd. Value is determined by the market and the market >has spoken... If we believe that value can only be determined by the market then Ada would have been dead years ago. Dean Runzel Opinions expressed are my own.


text:
by Giuliano Iantorno & Mario Papa
From "Rassegna italiana di linguistica applicata", Anno XI, n.1-2, Bulzoni Editore, Roma, 1979, pp.179-185
'An ounce of motivation is worth a pound of pedagogy', said one of the participants at a meeting at the Foreign Service Institute in the U.S.A.; 'Make that a ton! An ounce of motivation is worth a ton of pedagogy', added another colleague. (1) Perhaps these statements are overenthusiastic but most of the people who work in the field of ELT nowadays agree that pupils' motivation and interest are essential to learning. Therefore, rather than discuss this point any longer, we think it would be better to talk of a particular kind ol material which is often neglected by most teachers but offers a splendid opportunity to stimulate the interest of pupils: songs. As a matter of fact, songs are materials that reflect young people's concerns. They represent the kind of material that pupils want to learn. Through songs it is possible to introduce a considerable part of the youngsters' world into the classroom and to establish friendly relations with pupils. Moreover, songs provide an amusing and relaxing break in the usual routine of classroom activity. It would of course be absurd to claim that all the problems concerning motivation can be solved by introducing songs in the classroom, but singing is certainly one of the activities which generates enthusiasm.
Moreover, we should bear in mind that most of our pupils have not many chances to come in touch with the foreign language outside the classroom. Only a few of them will establish personal relations with native speakers or see films and plays in the foreign language, or read books and newspapers,
while almost all will be able to listen to foreign songs. For some of the pupils this could be the only possible contact with the foreign language outside the classroom.
Learning songs has undoubted advantages even on the ground of language learning in general. Traditionally listening comprehension has not been practised through songs because it has been considered too difficult for the average pupil. It is true that it can be difficult to understand a song not only for a pupil, sometimes even for a native speaker himself. In fact comprehension can be affected by the interference caused by the accompanying instruments, by the speed with which single words or whole sentences are uttered, and by the fact that many singers do not use a standard English or American pronunciation.
Today, on the other hand, FLT methodology stresses the importance that authentic language must be presented to pupils in order to train them in listening comprehension: dialogues recorded with different voices having different regional and social accents, dialogues containing the characteristics of spoken language, such as hesitation fillers, falses starts, and so on, fìlms,
broadcasts and lectures. (2). We think, therefore, that songs should be used to improve pupils' listening comprehension because they are another kind of authentic linguistic material that the students are familiar with.
Learning a certain number of songs leads not only to the coverage of the whole phonological system of the language but also helps develop the ability, which is so difficult to obtain, especially at the earlier stages, to pronounce whole sentences or phrases smoothly and fluently. The need for singing following the tune of the song helps fluency because pupils get used to
sound elision and assimilation, and learn to avoid glottal stops before words beginning with vowels. As far as suprasegmentals are concerned we must remember that the rhythm of the lines of a song is different from the rhythm of spoken language, therefore we cannot teach this through songs, while intonation is completely substituted by the melody.
Songs are also the basis for additional classroom practice. New structures can be presented in a memorable context or structures already learnt ca be used again in new contexts. We have experienced that songs specially constructed for the teaching of particular structures have failed to arouse pupils' interest and have often proved to be boring and artificial. Young people enjoy folk and pop songs much more because of their authentic cultural content.
Songs help in the building up of vocabulary both passive and active. The lexical content of the songs is easily memorized because it is learnt in a particularly stimulating context. Items are not easily forgotten because they are repeatedly recalled every time pupils sing the song again. Of course the teacher will pay particular attention not to choose songs with obsolete vocabulary or a variety of language which is not useful for purposes of communication.
Songs offer a splendid opportunity to present some of the most importanat aspect of the foreign culture. This is particularly true of folk songs, easily available today, such as sea-shanties, western songs, working songs, drinking songs, Christmas carols, spirituals, blues, children's songs, counting songs, etc. (3)
Finally we should not forget that singing is an exceptional teaching tool: in fact, students will take songs outside the classroom and will go on performing them long after the lesson has finished, purely for their own pleasure. Songs are unforgettable. Unlike drills, which usually slip from pupils' minds as soon as they leave the classroom, songs can last a lifetime and become part of one's own culture.
Bearing all this in mind, we have been using songs in the classroom for a considerable period of time with satisfactory results both in the 'scuola media' and the 'scuola superiore'.
We describe here the procedures we have adopted in choosing and exploiting songs. Of course we have paid particular attention to the choice of the songs. We have tried to select songs which can be sung in chorus and which can be easily grasped by the pupils because of their catchy tunes. It is
important that the tunes appeal to the students, and the musical arrangements are modern, and lively. As far as the presentation of the songs is concerned, we think that every teacher should follow the procedures most suitable to him and his class. It often helps if the teacher sings the song and encourages all the students to join in. It is up to him/her to fix the time to be devoted to singing. A whole session can be dedicated to the learning and exploitation of one song or, on the other hand, the whole activity can be sprad over a number of sessions, devoting to it only a part ot the time.
Songs can be exploited in many ways. We give here some examples of exercises we have used successfully with our classes. Songs which contain lines and choruses that focus on grammatical patterns and are repeated many times (Where have all the flowers gone? We shall overcome, Blowing in the wind, Kumbaya and many others) can be used to practise grammatical items in a lively way.
The linguistic material cantained in the songs is very useful for activities which represent an alternative to the usual classroom routine:
I) Sung dramatization
Sea-shanties and working songs lend themselves to dramatization.
As they have a strong rhythm and were originally sung by sailors and workmen to accompany their work, pupils can sing these songs while pretending to hoist a sail or weigh anchor. At an elementary level the dramatization of the song can be useful to express through gestures, the meaning of some actions. For example, If you're happy is particularly suitable for this purpose and is always a success.
2) Comprehension and repetition exercises
The verses of some songs consist of only one line which is repeated several times. Once the pupils know the tune, the teacher calls out the first line, and all the class sings the whole verse, as usually happens in a folk concert. This way of singing is useful because it encourages the pupils to try to understand and to repeat the line suggested by the teacher so that they can
all sing together. Particularly suitable are, for example, We shall overcome,
Glory, glory, hallelujah, Where have all the flowers gone?, She'll be coming round the mountain, I'm on my way.
3) Reconstruction of the song
When the students know the song moderately well, they can try to reconstruct it in two ways:
(a) By listening to the sung version on the tape-recorder. During this exercise it is necessary, of course, to stop the tape-recorder after each line, thus allowing the pupils time to write. The whole procedure should be repeated two or three times.
(b) By referring to 'key words'. The teacher should write the most important content words on the blackboard and the students should try to write all the lyrics. They should also be encouraged to feel that any change in the words of the song is acceptable provided that the change makes sense and fits the melody.
4) Summary of the song
When the song has a well-defined story, pupils can be invite to retell or rewrite the story in their own words.
5) From direct to reported speech
Some songs are written, entirely or in part, in direct speech. Pupils can retell or rewrite them in reported speech.
6) Dialogue writing
Pupils can convert the story of the song into a play creating a dialogue based on what they imagine the characters say to each other, as suggested by the story.
The exercises we have described up to now are entirely based on the linguistic content of the songs. They can be easily done in class at any time because the teacher need not prepare them in advance. On the other hand, the linguistic content of a song can be employed in the construction of new exercises which should best reflect the environment and the situation in which pupils live. Here are some examples of this type of exercises we have devised for our pupils in Salerno starting from lt's a long way to Tipperary.
Exercise (a)
The aim is not only to practise the structure 'Is it a long way from … to …?' but also to train the pupils to ask and give information about distance. The techer asks the pupils: 'Is it a long way from here to London?' eliciting "Yes, it is'. Then he asks 'Is it a long way from here to Amalfi?' eliciting 'No, it isn't'. Then the two exchanges can be written on the blackboard as models.
A: Is it a long way from here to London?
B: Yes, it is.
A: Is it a long way from here to Amalfi?
B: No, it isn't.
At this point pupils are invited to provide names of other places near or distant from the town where the school is. These are written on the blacboard in two columns.
Distant Places Places nearby
London Amalfi
Paris Positano
Tokio Paestum
New York Ravello
etc. etc. (We live in a splendid place, don't we?)
Looking at the models on the blackboard, pupils can build new exchanges using the names of the towns suggested by themselves.
A further development of this exercise is the following: the distances between Salerno and the other places nearby are written on the blackboard.
Salerno - Amalfi Km. 25
Salerno - Positano Km. 35
Salerno - Paestum Km. 40
Salerno - Ravello Km. 2l
Following the model given by the teacher, pupils can create new exchanges of this type:
I) A: Is it a long way from here to Amalfi?
B: Oh no, it's not a long way. It's about 25 Km. (or It's only 25 Km,)
II) The structure 'How far is it from... to..'? which is common when you want to ask information about distances, can be introduced at this point.
A: How far is it from here to Amalfi?
B: It's about 25 Km. (or lt's only 25 Km.)
Exercise (b)
The exercise aims not only at having the pupils practise the
structure 'How far is it from... to...? but at giving them confidence in using maps written in the foreign language.
A map of Britain is shown to the class and Tipperary and London are circled in red. Pupils should find the distances in miles between Tipperary and London and other towns in Ireland or Great Britain. Once they have these data pupils can write or practise orally these exchanges:
l) A:Excuse me, how far is it from Landon to Liverpool?
B: I think it's about 200 miles.
II) A: Excuse me, how far is it from London/here to Liverpool?
B: Er...let me see,..ah yes, (it) must be about 200 miles.
(1) J.E.Alatis, The Urge to Communicate vs. Resistance to Learning in English as a Second Language, 'English Language Teaching Journal', XXX (1976) n.4, p.266.
(2) W. d'Addio, Lingua straniera e comanicazione. Problemi di glottodidattica
Bologna, Zanichelli, 1974, p. 35.
(3) We give here a short list of collections of song which have been published recently or are forthcoming:
M. Papa - G. Iantorno, A song-book. of Folk and Pop Masic, Bologna, Zanichelli, 1977.
M. Papa - G. Iantorno, Famous British and Ameican Songs, London, Longman, 1979.
A. Lomax, The Penguin Book of American Folk Songs, Baltimore, Penguin Books, 1974.
J Dakin, Songs and Rhymes, London, Longman, 1968
S. Titra, Be nice to spiders, be kind to snakes, Northbrook, Hubbard Press. 1973.
R. Vaughan Williams- A.L.Lloyd, The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs, Great Britain, Penguin Books, 1973.